The Trouble with Quills
by Laora
Summary: Lily realizes, after arriving at Hogwarts, that she does not know how to use a quill. Remus helps out. James is a prick, as always.


**_10/8/12: _**_Just FYI, this story is—well—old XD;; I'm probably not going to delete it, or get around to editing it to my liking, so...I hope you enjoy it all the same? Or else read some of my newer stuff before deciding I'm a terrible author and moving on XD_

_Thanks so much for checking this out regardless! I really do appreciate it :)_

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Lily Evans woke up on the morning of September second extremely apprehensive. She had already made two great friends – Alena Keen and Mary Macdonald – but she did not know how she would do in this new and foreign world of magic.

She was showered and ready to go by the time her friends got up, and waited impatiently for them to get ready as well. Then they found some older Gryffindors just leaving the common room and followed them down to breakfast. Lily groaned as she sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"I'll never get the hang of this world."

"Oh, c'mon Lily, you'll get used to it," Alena said. Being a "half-blood", or at least that's what she called herself, Alena already knew a fair bit about magic. Mary was a "Muggleborn" like Lily.

"Easy for you to say," she grumbled into her orange juice.

Their first ever class was Transfiguration. Lily, Alena, and Mary sat in the first row, and upon command by the strict-looking teacher, pulled out parchment, quill, and ink.

Lily looked around at Alena, realizing that she had no idea how to use the feather now clutched in her hand. She mirrored what her friend was doing, and tried to write.

Nothing happened.

Inwardly groaning, she was thinking about writing a note to Alena asking how to use a "quill" when she realized that she could not write at all. She glanced at Mary – she was at least able to get ink onto the paper…

_Why did we have to sit in the first bloody row? _she asked herself angrily. _Why couldn't we have sat in the back?_

The answer came in a crumpled parchment hitting her on the back of the head. Opening it, she heard perfectly normal handwriting saying –

"_Having problems, Evans?"_

She knew immediately that it was that Potter prick's handwriting – she had met him on the train the previous day. He was handsome enough, she had decided, but far too cocky for his own good.

Having no way to reply, she simply attempted to ignore Potter; however, another piece of parchment hit her soon after –

"_You've got to have a great memory to not have to write anything down, you know. I've heard McGonagall's real tough."_

Again, she ignored him. _Maybe he'll leave me alone…_

A minute or so later, a third parchment floated down onto her desk. The writing on it was much neater.

"_If you're having trouble with the quills, I don't blame you. James can be a blockhead sometimes. I can help you after class if you'd like – according to James you don't want to miss too many notes in Transfiguration. – RL"_

Lily had to think a minute before realizing who had written that note. Remus Lupin – the quiet, pale boy who she had also met on the train. He was nice enough…

Deciding to take him up on his offer, she asked him after class to meet her in the library. They sat down at a small table, and Lily pulled out her quill, ink jar, and parchment.

"Show me how you were doing it," Remus suggested, "then I can figure out what you're doing wrong."

A few minutes later, she was able to make it work. Before she could express her thanks, however –

"Remus Lupin!" Potter's voice came from across the library.

Remus winced. "You might want to hide."

"And let you get dragged off by those idiots?" she scoffed. Remus' face adopted a strange look.

"They're not idiots…"

"There you are, Remus," James said, "What are you…" his eyes fell upon Lily. "What are you doing with _her_?" he asked, as if spending an elongated period of time with a girl was a revolting idea.

"He was helping me a bit with the magical world, Potter. You wouldn't know what it's like, would you?"

He raised his eyebrows, but said nothing more before blowing a raspberry at Lily and dragging Remus off. Just before he disappeared around the doorframe, Lily mouthed a "thank you" to Remus. He smiled.

"Any time."


End file.
